


Pataki Family Values

by dramatic owl (snarky_panda)



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: Future Fic, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Pregnancy, Single Parents, Sister-Sister Relationship, Vignette, ladiesbingo prompt: relative values: families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 11:50:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16117835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarky_panda/pseuds/dramatic%20owl
Summary: She could always count on her sister to be brutally honest. And to look out for her.





	Pataki Family Values

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the ladiesbingo challenge, for the prompt: relative values: families.

When Olga Pataki gave birth at home, Helga was the first one she called, after her call to her midwife Julie and her doula Marissa.

“Bring your set of keys to let yourself in. I’m in the bathtub and won’t be able to get to the front door to let you in.”

“You had the baby in the bathtub?”

“She just kind of came. Julie and Marissa are on their way, but they’re both across town and I’m all alone with the baby right now. I just want someone to wait with us.”

“I’ll come over now.”

Olga hit the end call button and stared at the cell phone in her hand, debating whether to call her parents. They’d stopped talking to her shortly after she began seeing the baby’s deadbeat father and things didn’t change after they found out from Helga that she was pregnant and abandoned by him. Helga wouldn’t repeat what Big Bob said but Olga figured it was something along the lines of ‘serves her right’. Miriam had nothing to say apparently; not that she was afraid to stand up to her husband, but in this case she hadn’t.

Helga, of course, told her bluntly that her choices in men sucked and that Charlie was the last in a long line of lousy men she’d picked on to date. Her younger sister never had learned to pull her punches. But she also stood by her through thick and thin. Though they hadn’t been close when they were younger, once Olga was out of college and Helga was a teenager their relationship began to shift and they’d become friendlier. Olga could always count on her to be honest with her.

Eva’s father – Olga had already decided to name her daughter Eva – had refused to acknowledge that the baby was his when she broke the news to him that she was pregnant. He accused Olga of sleeping around, called her a slut and a gold digger trying to entrap him, and told her flat out that he wanted no part of the baby or her. She never saw or spoke to him again.

At least her parents weren’t around to say they told her so.

Olga set her cell down on the ledge next to the soap dish and leaned back against the side of the tub, holding her newborn daughter against her chest and waiting for Julie to arrive and cut the cord that still bound them together.

~

In less than five minutes Helga arrived at Olga’s tiny apartment. She heard the knock on the bathroom door and called out to her to come in.

Helga left the door open so they could hear Julie’s arrival and grabbed the towels off the rack. She approached the tub and draped a towel around Olga’s shoulders, then handed her the other one so she could wrap the baby up.

“Thank you.”

Olga had drained the water out of the tub when she felt the baby coming, but now that the labor of childbirth was over she was damp and cold.

“I think I can help you out of there and into the bedroom.”

“Actually, I’m kind of afraid to move until Julie or Marissa gets here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Helga shrugged. “Okay. Do you need water or anything?”

“Water would be great.”

“Sure.”

She returned with water and more towels. She folded one of the towels up and put it between the wall and Olga’s head like a pillow, then she took a seat on the lidded toilet seat and eyed Olga and the baby with amusement.

“I know you wanted a natural childbirth, Olga, but this is ridiculous,” she cracked.

Olga hadn’t particularly wanted a natural childbirth but working as a freelancer meant she had no group health insurance, and an individual plan was too prohibitive. A home birth was cheaper than a hospital birth and the cost of a midwife and doula combined was less than paying out of pocket for an obstetrician. She was lucky that she’d had a healthy pregnancy with no issues like preeclampsia and that the baby was properly positioned at delivery, not breech.

She hadn’t wanted to burden Helga with knowledge of any of those difficulties, so she’d acted as if she truly believed in the natural method. If Helga saw through that, and she was more than smart enough to, she never let on.

“It’s not like it was my choice,” she retorted, but she started laughing. “She couldn’t wait to greet the world.”

“Or chow down either. I see she’s nursing already.”

“She started nursing almost immediately.”

“How did she just come in the tub? I mean, didn’t you feel…something? There must have been some warning.”

“That’s just it, I didn’t feel any different at all. I was in the tub already when my water broke…I felt it. At first I thought it was something else.”

Helga snorted.

“When it didn’t stop I realized what was happening and started draining the tub. I called Julie immediately but got her voice mail. Same with Marissa. By the time they got back to me Eva was already here.”

“Eva?”

“Eva Pataki. Eva, this is your Aunt Helga.”

Helga smiled and cooed a hello somewhat awkwardly.

“You’re going to have to start getting more comfortable than that around the baby, Helga. She’s your niece and you’ll be babysitting her – a lot.”

“I’ll be strictly a weekender.”

“That’s what you think.”

They eyed each other and burst into laughter. Their laughter subsided and both of them sobered.

“Thanks for the water and towels. And thanks for being here.”

“No problem. Of course I would be here.” She paused. “Did you call Miriam and Big Bob?”

“No. I thought about it but decided against it. Daddy always counted on me to be the perfect child. I’m sure he’ll never forgive me for turning out to not be perfect.”

“That’s on him, you know.”

“I know.”

“Miriam might give in though. She’ll want to know her granddaughter.”

“I don’t think so, Helga. Remember when I got engaged in college and both of them didn’t want me to get married so soon? Mama slipped and told me not to make the same mistake she made. It probably really hurts her to look at me in my situation. I think my choices, everything that has happened to me reminds her too much of herself.”

“Do you want me to call her anyway? Eva is her family now. They’re both idiots, but Miriam’s at least worth a try.”

“I just don’t know if I can handle another ‘no’. Another door slammed in my face.” But it also hurt her to think that Eva would never know her grandparents, that they would never know Eva. Her child was already starting out with such a small family. “You’re right. I guess you can try. But maybe wait a little while. At least until the cord is cut and I can get out of this tub.”

~

Helga was right about their mother. Miriam Pataki came to see Olga and the baby as soon as Helga called her.

“What about Big Bob?” Helga demanded.

“Your father doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Sneaking out, Miriam?”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call me Miriam, Helga. I’m still your mother even if you are twenty-two years old.”

“I’m _twenty-five_. _Mom_ ,” Helga corrected, rolling her eyes. “If no one else is going to tell Big Bob he has a granddaughter now I will. He should at least know what he’s missing out on.”

“Give him some time. He’ll come around.”

Mama was already snapping pictures of her daughter and baby granddaughter on her cell phone, but she paused and gave Olga a meaningful look.

Helga wasn’t easily swayed. “When? When _she’s_ twenty-five?” She crossed the bedroom to where she’d left her jacket and tote bag on Olga’s dresser and snatched them up. “I’m running out for coffee.”

When she was gone Mama took a seat beside the bed and laid her hand on Olga’s. Now that Julie wasn’t around either they would have some privacy for a little while.

Olga spoke first. “I never wanted to let either of you down, Mama.”

“Oh, honey, you didn’t let us down. We let you down and I’m sorry. Your choices are yours and we should’ve supported you no matter what. You shouldn’t have had to go through all this alone.”

“You’re here now and that’s what matters. And I was never really alone. Helga was with me through it all.”

“I’m glad she was and that she called me now. I’ve missed you so much. Your father misses you too, even though he won’t admit it yet.”

Olga smiled.

“Give him a little bit of time. He’ll want to know his beautiful granddaughter. And I’m going to show him these photos tonight, as soon as he gets home.”

~

“Yeesh, this place is a dump,” Bob Pataki remarked, taking in Olga’s cramped little place for the first time a week later.

“What did you expect, Bob?” Helga retorted. “It’s not like she was getting any help along the way.”

Olga glanced at her and smiled warmly. Strangely, Helga was angrier at their parents’ behavior toward her these past months than she was. And it was Helga, even more than Miriam, who convinced their father that he was being a stubborn oaf and that he ought to come meet his granddaughter before he regretted waiting too long. Her younger sister’s protectiveness was touching.

“Hey, hey, hey!” He shook his finger at Helga in warning. “Watch it, young lady.”

“Come on, Helga, B, no fighting,” Miriam chided them. “We’re finally all together again.”

Bob paced around the apartment, examining all the rooms, noting the bassinet in the small, cluttered living room. “This place is way too small for you and the baby, Olga. Eva should have her own room. Why don’t you move back in with us temporarily? At least until you can find a bigger apartment. There’s plenty of room for you both, and we can help out with Eva.”

Miriam nodded agreement. “We’d love to have you both living with us, sweetie. She’s going to outgrow that bassinet before you know it.”

“Daddy, you haven’t even held Eva yet. Come on over. We can work out the other stuff later.”

He hesitated then drew closer and took a seat beside her on the couch. Olga placed Eva in his arms and introduced her to her grandpa.


End file.
